On the 8th of Jumād al-Awwāl 1439, corresponding to the 25th of January 2018, we requested an exclusive introduction from our noble shaykh, Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Banna (حفظه الله), to our new weekly Four Principles class, a class that takes place on Saturdays after Maghrib. The shaykh happily agreed and proceeded with the advice detailed below.

After praising Allāh and sending salutations upon the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam), he said:

This advice is from your brother Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Banna, the Salafī Islamic caller in the Arab Republic of Egypt. I greet you with the Islamic greeting al-Salāmu ʿAlaykum wa-Raḥmatullāh wa Barakātuh.

I ask Allāh to grant you success and steadfastness. Our brother Munīb — who resides in Canada and is originally from Somalia — requests that we give a brief introduction to this new class. Allāh has granted you success in completing al-Uṣūl al-Thalāthah (The Three Fundamental Principles) by the illustrious Imām, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, along with the explanation of various scholars. Allāh has blessed you and granted you all success in completing this treatise and now you will be starting your class in al-Qawāʿid al-ʾArbaʿ (The Four Fundamental Principles) by Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, with the explanation of Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān.

Glad tidings to you all for this effort of yours. These (treatises) are fundamental introductory books in the field of al-Tawḥīd. You began with al-Uṣūl al-Thalāthah and now you will begin al-Qawāʿid al-ʾArbaʿ, then The Six Principles, then The Removal of the Doubts, then The Book of Tawḥīd and then the various books on ʿAqīdah and Manhaj. This is the methodology of Ahl al-Sunnah, and glad tidings to you for embarking upon this methodology. I ask Allāh to grant you success and steadfastness.

You will now start with al-Qawāʿid al-ʾArbaʿ, and in reality, al-Qawāʿid al-ʾArbaʿ not only benefits you, but it likewise benefits the non-Muslims as well, because in it is a battle against the false deities and a battle against the grave worshippers who worship the graves of righteous Muslims and the graves of the rabbis and monks from amongst the Christians and Jews.

So in this Qawāʿid al-ʾArbaʿ, there is much emphasis on refuting these false beliefs of the people of the graves. Many of the Muslims establish graves in mosques like the ones we have here in Egypt, the graves of Husayn and Zaynab (raḍi Allāhu ʿanhum), and other than them from the graves we have here in Egypt, and likewise other graves that the people go to in Morocco, India, Pakistan and other than them.

So this treatise by Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb will benefit you and the Christians as well. So encourage your fellow Muslims to come out to this class and benefit so that they may call the non-Muslims to Islām. There is no issue if it is a class in a different language (English); let the people come out and listen.

It could be that someone is guided to Islām by way of you and that person who is guided ends up being a great benefit to Islām and the Muslims. So I encourage all of you to attend this class, and I ask Allāh to reward you all for your actions. I ask Allāh to make these classes of yours consistent and continuous up until we meet our Lord.